PCT: there are no grounds for a refund of the full cost of a canceled trip to Turkey

There are no reasons to return the full cost of the tour if tourists refuse to travel to Turkish resorts, since the Russian authorities have not declared a threat to the life and health of citizens on the territory of this country. This statement was made on Tuesday by the head of the legal committee of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT) Georgy Mokhov, Interfax reports.

According to Mokhov, major tour operators are not currently seeing a significant number of cancellations of booked trips to Turkey, as well as requests to reschedule them to another time, since February is the low season in this direction.

“The situation would look much more serious if this tragic event happened in August, when up to 1.5 million of our tourists rest in Antalya alone,” said the head of the PCT Legal Committee.

At the same time, he noted that “even if there were cancellations, there are no grounds for returning the full cost of the tour to tourists now”: a threat to the life and health of Russians in the host country was not declared. And “doubts and fear”, according to Mokhov, “are not a legal basis for terminating the contract.”

“Airplanes continue to fly, hotels continue to accommodate guests, and there is no real threat to the lives of tourists,” he said. But if, nevertheless, the tourist worries and doubts, it is possible, by agreement with the tour operator, to postpone the trip to Turkey.

If this is not possible, and the tourist “insists on cancellation and is ready to go to court,” then, according to the expert, “there is some chance of recovery.” He explained that despite the fact that the threat has not been officially announced, the court can take into account that the plaintiff is appealing “to information in the media, the declaration of a state of emergency in certain areas, fears for the lives of children” and support him.

There have been such cases, but in this case it is important to understand that “the compensation for the cost of the tour takes into account the proven actually incurred expenses of the tour operator.” That is, if there is a court decision, the tourist will be refunded “with the loss of part of the cost of the tour.”

After a powerful earthquake that occurred in Turkey on the night of February 6, the Ministry of Economic Development recommended that Russian tourists not visit the regions of the country affected by the disaster due to seismic hazard. We are talking about four provinces: Kahramanmarash, Gaziantep, Malatya and Diyarbakir.